Tulane bans HS from ED for 1 year after student backs out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those schools should switch to common app. Common app doesn’t allow more than one ED.

I love ED and hope it lasts at least long enough for my second child! It’s a great option for kids not wanting to play the field. DD had a very realistic first choice and wanted an answer as soon as possible. It was great.

Oh, Common App is very easy to get around. You apply apply EA via the Common App and then just switch your "Decision Round" to ED in the school's portal. As you long as you can get a school counselor to sign the form, there is zero limit to the number of schools you can apply ED to.

Any school counselor who does this should be fired.

[Anonymous]

If you read the article and quotations closely, it seems that the student backed out of the ED agreement without any explanation. I think that's the loophole here, and that was the mistake of the Colorado private school to allow that.

If a kid really, really wants to back out of an ED for any reason, you can think up some reason that sounds plausible. You don't have to provide details; "my family situation changed" would probably suffice. The high school should have pushed the kid/ family to respond in a better manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tulane getting huffy and punishing so many other students from this high school is childish and unethical.

Not that Tulane interests me, but now we have one less reason to consider it.

Tulane didn't do this to the junior class, the high school counselor did. The Junior class should demand that person be fired and that the school withhold the offending students' transcripts. Then maybe Tulane will be able to trust the school, take the school and its students at their word, and change course. No college wants to admit unethical people and if you are coming from an unethical high school, its a huge red flag.

Oh Lord. No one including you knows exactly what happened. What if the kid's financial situation changed and could no longer afford the tuition? What if the kid is sick or got injured and needs to take a gap year; or whatever reasonable reason that we don't know about? At the end of the day, it was Tulane who decided to punish an entire class of innocent kids and families which is practically extortion. Stop blaming the HS counselor for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or you could be like my sister in law who spent every last dollar they made and now because BIL was laid off their kids will get a full ride. Didn’t save a dollar and were rewarded.

You think it's great for them to have no money? If my choices were being totally broke and getting full pay versus having a comfortable savings and paying for college -- I'm choosing the latter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tulane getting huffy and punishing so many other students from this high school is childish and unethical.

Not that Tulane interests me, but now we have one less reason to consider it.

Tulane didn't do this to the junior class, the high school counselor did. The Junior class should demand that person be fired and that the school withhold the offending students' transcripts. Then maybe Tulane will be able to trust the school, take the school and its students at their word, and change course. No college wants to admit unethical people and if you are coming from an unethical high school, its a huge red flag.

Oh Lord. No one including you knows exactly what happened. What if the kid's financial situation changed and could no longer afford the tuition? What if the kid is sick or got injured and needs to take a gap year; or whatever reasonable reason that we don't know about? At the end of the day, it was Tulane who decided to punish an entire class of innocent kids and families which is practically extortion. Stop blaming the HS counselor for that.

Read. The. Article.

The kid should have provided some explanation, even a made up one.

In a statement to The New York Times, Tulane said Colorado Academy had failed to uphold the expectations of the early-decision agreement. “A last-minute withdrawal without explanation[i][u] unfairly impacts other applicants who may have missed opportunities due to the limited number of early-decision offers a university can make,” the university said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ED has to go. It used to be an option used by the very few kids who had an absolute 110% first choice AND could be confident about the strength of their high school record grades 9-11. I don’t know anyone from my private high school class (early 90’s) who ED’d anywhere. This was a high school filled with full pay kids, that sent a good-sized contingent to the Ivies, T-25’s and SLAC’s most years. Now ED has added another unnecessary layer of stress to an already stressful process and has become a too for colleges to game the rankings.

You’re wrong. I applied to college in 1980 and ED’d to Dartmouth. My sister ED’d to an Ivy 7 years later. Private high school. Many did.

[Anonymous]

Ha-i live in Denver and CA is full of entitled brats and parents. Good to see them look bad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ED has to go. It used to be an option used by the very few kids who had an absolute 110% first choice AND could be confident about the strength of their high school record grades 9-11. I don’t know anyone from my private high school class (early 90’s) who ED’d anywhere. This was a high school filled with full pay kids, that sent a good-sized contingent to the Ivies, T-25’s and SLAC’s most years. Now ED has added another unnecessary layer of stress to an already stressful process and has become a too for colleges to game the rankings.

You’re wrong. I applied to college in 1980 and ED’d to Dartmouth. My sister ED’d to an Ivy 7 years later. Private high school. Many did.

How does your anecdote make PP wrong? I guess the education at Dartmouth in the 80s wasn’t what I thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you read the article and quotations closely, it seems that the student backed out of the ED agreement without any explanation. I think that's the loophole here, and that was the mistake of the Colorado private school to allow that.

If a kid really, really wants to back out of an ED for any reason, you can think up some reason that sounds plausible. You don't have to provide details; "my family situation changed" would probably suffice. The high school should have pushed the kid/ family to respond in a better manner.

Wrong.

A statement that vague isn’t going to cut it. You’ll have to be far more specific than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Abolish ED, limit everyone to 10 applications, limit SAT/ACT sittings to 2, get rid of the “commitment” system for Division III athletics, and maybe that can go some ways in making the process the way it was circa 1990- not perfect but much more transparent (even without internet!) and less stressful.

Nope!! ED is a good thing, and helps ensure schools fill their freshman class exactly (not over, not under---both are bad for the school for the next 4 years)
If you don't like ED, don't do it. Just like you don't buy a BMW if you can only afford a KIA. It's a choice

It’s amazing how much all of you get off on thinking the people objecting aren’t as wealthy as you. You are showing your true and nasty colors.

Maybe you should actually read and grasp the posts?

The NPC tells you how much aid you can expect. That number does not change, regardless of whether a kid applies ED or RD. My DC applied ED and received financial aid, the same amount he would have received had he applied RD. The school was his first choice, so he applied. Why is that difficult to understand, or unfair? We ruled out ED schools that indicated we would receive no aid. You are free to do the same.

+1 I'm not sure why there is such a poor understanding of how financial aid works. You qualify for the same need-based aid regardless of when you apply. The NPC gives you the number. ED or not, the number does not change.

I am doubtful that your financial skills are as sharp as you think since your reading skills are so poor. Who do you think you are arguing with and what are they saying? The only people talking about financials affecting decision in this rolled up responses are the people patting themselves on the back.

Not really! Those who do not like ED or think it's unfair are typically in one category: Those who want to search for merit but also don't want to miss out on the slight advantage ED might provide.

it is perfectly fine to need to/want to compare merit offers from schools. But you have to be informed about how it works and understand that most T25 schools do NOT offer merit (sure Duke has 10-15 merit scholarships, but that's it for 2K freshman, so in reality, they do not really offer merit). So if the NPC says you owe Full pay that is what you owe. It's the same for ED as well as RD/EA.
So what those people really want is to see if the "next tier" of schools offers their kid good merit, and if it's a "good enough school with good enough merit to make it worthwhile attending" otherwise they are willing to find a way to be Full pay at the T25 that their kid really wants to attend.

Except that is not how ED works. If you want to compare offers then you have EA/RD as an option.

So yes, the only reason someone thinks ED is "unfair" is because of financials. But that is a "you choice". Everyone has the choice to accept the NPC for any school and apply ED (if it's an option). It helps both students and the schools.

I agree this is the issue and have not seen anyone directly refute it.

But it is NOT really "an issue". Anyone can ED, you just have to be willing to accept the NPC. If you are not willing to do that, well then ED isn't for you. That is a YOU issue, not an ED issue.
As many have pointed out, the school will cost the same for EA/RD should you manage to gain admission. So either you can afford it or you can't. And if you want to compare, well that is not what ED is for. You have to choose. But you can still apply EA/RD if you really want to compare offers.

You don't get it both ways. There are rules and you must choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tulane getting huffy and punishing so many other students from this high school is childish and unethical.

Not that Tulane interests me, but now we have one less reason to consider it.

No, Tulane is stating that this HS doesn't follow the rules (it's the counselors who allow that to happen), so they won't be considering this school for ED for the future. The entire point of ED is that someone is 100% committed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Abolish ED, limit everyone to 10 applications, limit SAT/ACT sittings to 2, get rid of the “commitment” system for Division III athletics, and maybe that can go some ways in making the process the way it was circa 1990- not perfect but much more transparent (even without internet!) and less stressful.

Nope!! ED is a good thing, and helps ensure schools fill their freshman class exactly (not over, not under---both are bad for the school for the next 4 years)
If you don't like ED, don't do it. Just like you don't buy a BMW if you can only afford a KIA. It's a choice

It’s amazing how much all of you get off on thinking the people objecting aren’t as wealthy as you. You are showing your true and nasty colors.

Maybe you should actually read and grasp the posts?

The NPC tells you how much aid you can expect. That number does not change, regardless of whether a kid applies ED or RD. My DC applied ED and received financial aid, the same amount he would have received had he applied RD. The school was his first choice, so he applied. Why is that difficult to understand, or unfair? We ruled out ED schools that indicated we would receive no aid. You are free to do the same.

+1 I'm not sure why there is such a poor understanding of how financial aid works. You qualify for the same need-based aid regardless of when you apply. The NPC gives you the number. ED or not, the number does not change.

I am doubtful that your financial skills are as sharp as you think since your reading skills are so poor. Who do you think you are arguing with and what are they saying? The only people talking about financials affecting decision in this rolled up responses are the people patting themselves on the back.

Not really! Those who do not like ED or think it's unfair are typically in one category: Those who want to search for merit but also don't want to miss out on the slight advantage ED might provide.

it is perfectly fine to need to/want to compare merit offers from schools. But you have to be informed about how it works and understand that most T25 schools do NOT offer merit (sure Duke has 10-15 merit scholarships, but that's it for 2K freshman, so in reality, they do not really offer merit). So if the NPC says you owe Full pay that is what you owe. It's the same for ED as well as RD/EA.
So what those people really want is to see if the "next tier" of schools offers their kid good merit, and if it's a "good enough school with good enough merit to make it worthwhile attending" otherwise they are willing to find a way to be Full pay at the T25 that their kid really wants to attend.

Except that is not how ED works. If you want to compare offers then you have EA/RD as an option.

So yes, the only reason someone thinks ED is "unfair" is because of financials. But that is a "you choice". Everyone has the choice to accept the NPC for any school and apply ED (if it's an option). It helps both students and the schools.

Maybe you need to step back here. Colleges (nearly all of them) have non-profit status. This means that they are providing a service to society that justifies not taxing them.
In return, their practices have to be aligned with the goal our society is setting for itself.

A key goal is equality (that's equality before some people renamed it "equity"). It means equal chances for everyone. Creating a separate pool of applicants in ED, only to ensure the university has a leg up in the race to fill their seats, is a blatant violation of equality, and it is not only unethical, but it should be illegal, plain and simple.

If universities wish to engage in private contracts like ED demands, they should (a) write legal contracts with civil penalties and (b) abandon their non-profit status.

Otherwise, they are expected to abide by societal norms.

For the final time, everyone can do ED. It's open to everyone. It's a choice you make to NOT do ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest question- what's the advantage to ED? Not on the kid but to the schools?

100% yield of full pay kids.

No, 100% yield of all kids who want to attend that University as their "top choice". ED is not all Full pay kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tulane getting huffy and punishing so many other students from this high school is childish and unethical.

Not that Tulane interests me, but now we have one less reason to consider it.

No, Tulane is stating that this HS doesn't follow the rules (it's the counselors who allow that to happen), so they won't be considering this school for ED for the future. The entire point of ED is that someone is 100% committed.

The counselor didn't do this, nor did the parents, the student did. I posted this story a few months back but this board denied it happened. Kid kept in applications to the UC's which don't accept/require transcripts for senior year so there was nothing required from the counselor who had no way of knowing that the student hadn't withdrawn applications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you read the article and quotations closely, it seems that the student backed out of the ED agreement without any explanation. I think that's the loophole here, and that was the mistake of the Colorado private school to allow that.

If a kid really, really wants to back out of an ED for any reason, you can think up some reason that sounds plausible. You don't have to provide details; "my family situation changed" would probably suffice. The high school should have pushed the kid/ family to respond in a better manner.

Wrong.

A statement that vague isn’t going to cut it. You’ll have to be far more specific than that.

I don't know about that. No one is going to force you to cough up personal details. I think the error here is that the student backed out without telling Tulane or, apparently, the counselor's office.